A brand style guide is a playbook for everything that governs the appearance of your brand.  The brand style guide covers everything from logos and colors to images and fonts.  It is a very useful tool to keep employees, partners, and agencies on the same page and consistent when using your brand.

Your brand style guide should contain all of the information and guidelines you want someone to have when they are using your brand.  This should include:

Your brand story – mission statement, company history, ideal customer, etc

• Brand color palette
• Logo and logo guidelines
• Approved fonts and typography styles
• Image and data visualization guidelines
  Editorial Style Guide – guidelines about your brand’s voice

When a person or agency uses your brand to create advertising messages, marketing materials, and more, a brand style guide will provide the guidelines to keep a consistent message to your audience, regardless of where your brand will appear.

Without a brand style guide, your branding will inevitably be inconsistent across different mediums and content creators. This will lead to confusion within your intended audience and a lowering of trust in your brand. Your brand may even end up looking like a different brand altogether. Consistency is the key to a successful brand.

A brand style guide, a company style guide, and a brand book are interchangeable terms meaning the same thing. These terms all represent a book of guidelines surrounding your brand.